Life Changes
by GrimM Bbliss
Summary: Yeah, I don't feel like writing a good summary.  Just read it and roll with it.  YugixOC


**Hello again, my pretties! I'm back with a new show to obliterate! When I was about eight, I was really into Yu-Gi-Oh!, but as my brother stopped wanting to duel with me, and no one I went to school with would, it sort of fell to the back of my mind. I woke up in time to watch an episode today, and decided to re-watch it. I'm only on the first episodes, so if I mess up some facts, blame my older sibling for not wanting to lose to a kid six years younger than him.**

**And I've decided that this doesn't happen at any specific time in the series, just in that world with those characters, k? And I'm using the Japanese names, so just wiki them if you're not sure who they are.**

**Oh, and I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or any of the characters except my OC.**

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><p>I sat down at a desk an inconspicuous distance from the duel. I flipped open my book to a random page and stared at it intently. I wasn't reading it, though; I was focusing on the game in front of me. If I looked slightly above the book and turned the page approximately every minute and a half, it looked like I was reading, so I could observe the game undisturbed. I needed to challenge my mind, and predicting the duel would be sufficient exercise.<p>

It's bad to spy, I know, but I couldn't help it. Yugi, a short boy with spiky black hair with magenta tips and a few blonde strands in front, was whipping Katsuya. Katsuya was a tallish boy with thick blonde hair and a thick Brooklyn accent. Hiroto, a boy with brown hair that defied gravity and stuck straight up, and Anzu, a pretty average girl, were watching.

"Wow, Joey! You still really stink at dueling!" Hiroto was commenting on how bad Katsuya was at playing. I had to admit that he was right, but Yugi just laughed.

"He's pretty good, I just have a better deck." Yugi smiled, and they kept dueling. From where I was sitting, I could see into Katsuya's hand. He laid down a card in attack, one that he should have laid down in defense.

I could have smacked him in the head. _You idiot, what the hell were you thinking? _I thought. _What good was _that _going to do in attack?_ I started muttering under my breath, not loud enough for anyone to hear my words, but loud enough for Katsuya to think he did something wrong. Yugi eliminated his card, and the duel was over. I couldn't help it; I stood up and walked to the desk they were dueling at.

"Can I play you once, Yugi? You seem pretty good at this game and I'd like to try my hand." I smiled at him brightly. "I'm Ramla, by the way. I know that I've never talked to you much before, so I didn't know if you knew who I was."

"Sure, I'll duel you, Ramla. Do you have a deck?" The reason he asked was because he probably knew exactly who I was. I was the charity project of the school; a homeless kid being given an education. It was a reasonable question given my circumstance, but it still annoyed me.

"Would I be asking you to duel if I didn't?" It rankled when people assumed I was completely and totally destitute. I made a little money, just not enough and not regularly enough to pay rent or buy much food. I shook my head. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, and I really want to play, but questions like that…" Yugi nodded.

"I understand. Well, let's duel!" I sat down in the chair and set up my side of the board. "Your turn first." I tilted my head and looked at Yugi carefully. I thought about what I'd seen him do dueling others, and laid down two cards. One was a Dark Magician, which I laid down facedown and in defense mode, and the other was a trap that would cut his life points when if he attacked a facedown card.

"Your move, Yugi." I waited for him to play his card, which was his Dark Magician; he laid it in attack, of course. That was the smart move, the only move a reasonable dueler would make. He attacked and destroyed my facedown card since his attack was higher than my defense, but that activated the trap I laid. "Since you destroyed my facedown card, my trap cuts your life points by half, Yugi. Your turn is over now."

"Yikes! That was unexpected. Well, I guess that means it's your turn." I drew a card and placed it in attack mode. It was a Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest card; it defeated Yugi's Dark Magician, and took a hundred off his life points. I put it in defense mode and waited.

"Your turn." He drew a card and placed it in attack mode. It destroyed my card, but also ended his turn. I drew a card and smiled. The cards were in my favor.

I wiped my face of emotion, and played my Naturia Beast card in defense mode. Yugi went for my bait, which was surprising, but he destroyed my card, which gave me the ability to summon my Green Baboon again. I played it in attack mode and destroyed his monster, leaving him with only one hundred life points. He looked like he was going to start panicking, but he played it smoothly and played a monster and a magic card that protected it from Beast-Type moves for three turns. Lucky for me I wasn't planning on using Beast-Type.

"Well Yugi, this is the end." I played my Dark Magician Girl which gained 600 attack points because there were two Dark Magicians in the Graveyard. I attacked him, destroying his monster and wiping his life points. "I win." When you could feel the cards, it's no longer amazing when you win. And he did everything right, but I was just better. Katsuya put his hand on my shoulder.

"Whoa, that was… I've never seen anyone seen anyone beat Yugi. Ever. And he went against the world champ." I shrugged. I never lose. It comes with being me.

"Rematch?" I pulled my deck back out of my pocket and shuffled quickly. Glancing over at Yugi, I tilted my head questioningly. He nodded, and I sat back down.

We ended up playing four more games. They all ended similarly to the first. A crowd gathered around us, watching me beat him at his own game. He looked like he was getting frustrated with every move he tried to make being turned into a positive move for me. I was seriously thinking about throwing the fifth match, when the bell rang.

"I have to go," I said, hastily standing up. I shoveled all my cards into my pocket and ran for my locker. Grabbing my other bag, I almost sprinted to the outer door. I kept running until I reached the fountain in my courtyard. When I say _my _courtyard, I mean the one that I played my ocarina in for change. I caught my breath and got set up.

The guy who does the card tricks on the corner opposite me nodded to me, and I nodded back. He had saved my awesome spot for me, so I owed him. I'd have to give him half of what I made, but that was fine. Better make lots and have to split it than make none because I got a place with horrible acoustics. Music carried over the entire square in that exact spot, and when I hit a note just right, you could hear it for almost a mile.

Money piled up in the hat I had out for collection. Every once in a while some smartass punk would try and stick their hand in to pick out the bills, but I delivered a swift kick to the nearest body part available without pausing. About three hours after school let out, I saw a pair of little feet in sneakers standing next to my hat. I paused, deciding to take a break anyway.

"Kid, you stick your hand in there and I'm taking it off," I said without looking up from the feet. I glanced up and almost fell into the fountain. "Oh, it's you, Yugi. Sorry, but fifteen different people have tried to steal my money. Well, it's almost dark, so I'm going to go. See you in school tomorrow!"

I was talking in a freakishly rushed, squeaky voice, and I had no idea why. What I did know is I wanted out of there. I almost left my hat I was in such a panic. I scurried down an alley where I could see Yugi. He looked around confusedly, then left. I breathed a sigh of relief, and headed back into the square.

"I almost thought you were going to leave without paying me, Little Diviner. But I know you better than that." The cards con-man patted my cheek. I flinched away; he was one dark, scary dude under the nice face he put on for the marks. I reached into the hat, counting it quickly.

"Here's your cut, now let me go home." I thrust a wad of bills into his hand and turned on my heel. He tried to catch the edge of my skirt, but I kicked him in the shin. "I told you yesterday, stop trying to see under my uniform. If you don't stop, I don't care if I never make another dime, I'll sit in the alley and play!" I stomped off, ready for a hot shower and a relatively clean place to sleep.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

In school, I sat way in the back, hoping Yugi didn't see me. No such luck. As soon as he walked in the door, he made a beeline for my desk. I frantically looked around for some reason for me to suddenly leave the room, but there was nothing. I sat there, sliding down in my seat, hoping with a hope beyond hope that he would pass by me and go to his friends.

"Hi, Ramla!" He smiled at me, and I smiled back. I couldn't help it; his smile was infectious. No matter how much I didn't want to talk right now, the way his mouth quirked up in such childishly pure joy made me happy in return.

"Hi, Yugi. What's up?" I set down the book I'd been pretending to read. It was a pretty thick book, and I saw Yugi's eyebrows unconsciously raise.

"_Gone With the Wind_? What's it about?" He read the English title carefully, making sure he got it right.

"It's an American book about a young woman's life going through their Civil War. I find if fascinating. Its opinions of slavery is so much different than those in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_." I shrugged. "I'm borrowing it from the school library." Yugi picked it up and read the first few pages, then set it down.

"Yikes, that seems really boring. Why do you read it?" I shrugged again.

"I guess I like it because I can see a woman who will do anything she has to. Scarlett is cynical and brutally realistic to the point of ruthlessness. She treasures her land, and will keep it even if the entire South goes to hell. She knows that in the end, you have to do that which must be done." I sighed. "Sometimes, I wish I had that kind of courage."

"That's not courage, that's selfishness," Yugi said, frowning with his eyes. "I don't think I could respect you if you only cared for land." He shook his head.

"No, I mean I want to be able to do what has to be done. I'm terrified that if it comes down to it, I'm going to collapse under the pressure." I shivered. "It's the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night."

"I think you have that, Ramla." Yugi smiled at me with such a innocent assuredness that I couldn't not believe it, if only for a moment. The bell rang, and class started, ending our very interesting conversation.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

"Give it back, Ushio! I need that!" I jumped, trying to grab my bag from Ushio. He was holding it over his head, way out of my short grasp. Sometimes being tiny really sucked. I was even shorter than Yugi was, which is scary because he's barely over 150 centimeters.

"C'mon, Shrimp, jump for it! Maybe you'll reach it in a year." Ushio laughed and held it higher over his head. I got fed up, and kicked him in the solar plexus. Yeah, I'm fricking flexible. That kick was practically over my head. Anyway, he bowled over, clutching his stomach, but didn't let go of the bag.

"I'm going to ask nice this time, Ushio. Can I please have my bag back?" I backed out so I was just out of his reach. He sneered maliciously at me and threw my bag off the roof. I ran to the side and peered over, scared of what I might see. Thankfully, my bag had landed in the pool and not on the concrete. "You asshole!"

I flew at Ushio, a flurry of tiny fists and feet. I stopped dead, and raced down to the ground level. If my ocarina got wet, I'd have to get it repaired, and I wouldn't have money for food. I hoped that the case would keep it a little dry, but I wasn't really optimistic. When I finally got there, huffing and puffing (there's no elevator in the school, only stairs), I dove straight into the pool.

I snatched my bag off the bottom of the pool and tried to surface, but I hadn't taken enough air in before diving in. My vision started to blacken at the edges. I struggled to get a lungful of air, but I was I the deep end and completely surrounded by water. I felt my back touch the bottom, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be; it felt almost muddy, and the water had turned a murky green-brown. I saw someone dive in and reach for me, but I felt detached from the thought of rescue.

My last thought was, _My Pharaoh, come to rescue me again…_

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><p><strong>BUM BUM BUUUUUUM! Yeah, I know you have no idea what's going on. Just roll with it. Oh, and if you were too lazy to Wiki the characters, here's a list of who's who:<strong>

**Katsuya = Joey Wheeler**

**Anzu = Téa Gardner**

**Hiroto = Tristan Taylor**

**Ushio = Tetsu Trudge**

**And I would like to state for the record that I have never read _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, and I'm in the middle of reading _Gone With the Wind_, so all musings about them are strictly theoretical.  
><strong>

**And please, please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, review!**


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